Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 13/98) - Two medivac pilots and a nurse who were en route to Wha Ti early Wednesday morning to pick up a patient are safe after their plane developed a problem with the landing gear shortly following takeoff.

The Air Tindi King Air 90 landed at Yellowknife airport around 8:30 a.m. after the pilots noticed the plane's landing gear indicator light inside the cockpit wasn't functioning properly.

The airport fire department as well as the Yellowknife fire department were dispatched to the runway to wait for the plane to come down.

Peter Arychuk of Air Tindi said the emergency vehicles were a precautionary measure.

"It, basically, boiled down to a broken wire," he said. "The gear was down -- we could see it when they flew by."

The pilots stayed in the air for an hour until there was more daylight and traffic cleared from the runway.

"Early in the morning, Yellowknife is congested," he said. "If there is a problem, we didn't want an airplane blocking the runway."

Arychuk also said the pilots handled the situation well.

"They were two senior pilots with the company who did a very good job bringing the plane down," he said.

The plane has since been repaired and checked for other mechanical problems, he added.